say you like me
by prettypinklips
Summary: "He's emotionally handicapped, Korra. You can't just kiss him and expect everything to be turtle-ducks and rainbows." -— mako/korra, bolin/korra friendship.


**say you like me**

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Bolin sits cross-legged, bowl of noodles in his lap, Pabu on his shoulder.

The pair watch Mako and Korra fling things at each other, fire sloshing back and forth across the kitchen as they fight. Korra's yelling something about firebenders and sticks up their backsides, and Mako's hissing—really, _hissing?_ Mako's never been much of a yeller, though.—something about Avatar's and emotional instability.

Bolin slurps up a mouthful of noodles, and Pabu wraps his tail over his eyes. He doesn't really know how this particular fight started, only that they've been fighting so much more lately. Instead of bickering over what they would have for lunch or Mako's strict training schedule, they were having all-out screaming matches.

Mako would come to their shared room, bruised, tips of his fingers burnt, "Don't ask, Bo." he would say, collapsing onto his bed.

Korra would throw herself into her training, burn marks on her arms from Mako's whips.

The tension was too much, too palpable. He saw the guilt reflecting in Mako's golden eyes when he noticed the burns on Korra's arms. He could almost feel the apology slipping from Korra's lips when she noticed Mako's bruises.

He just couldn't understand why, _why,_ they fought so much. It wasn't because of Asami, because Asami Sato had already stuck her two cents in. She'd even started a betting pool with Ikki and Jinora on when Mako and Korra would get together. "Mako and I wouldn't have worked," she'd said when he'd asked, "not while Korra was around. She's a supernova and I'm just a miniscule speck in the sky."

He doesn't know much about stars, but he's pretty sure he owes Asami his entire life's savings. He'd thought they'd get over themselves by now and get their acts together, but no dice. It was really starting to grate on his nerves.

Looking at the pair now, sitting in between their frenzied insults and bending, Bolin doesn't see them getting together anytime soon. It's depressing, really. To see two people normally so in sync so out of balance.

Bolin sighs. Korea flings a water whip at Mako. Mako ducks. This goes on for a few more minutes, and then—

Korra's next whip misses and sends Bolin's half-empty bowl of noodles all over him. The kitchen falls silent, and Pabu scurries out of the room as Bolin's hands clench into fists. "Okay." he starts, "Enough is _enough._ You can beat up on each other all you want, but when my noodles get involved, _I_ get involved."

Bolin jumps up before either can say anything, stomps both feet on the ground, and sends up two separate walls of rock, blocking Korra and Mako from seeing each other. He feels a little bad about Pema's destroyed kitchen, but then he thinks about his poor noodles and his anger stirs again. They're both just so stupid. _Honestly._ Why fight when they could be doing couply things and being happy? He just doesn't get it.

He seals Mako and Korra in their separate places with the tap of his toe. Mako's yelling, Korra's saying something about just bending her way out of the box. Bolin shifts, kicks the bowl of ruined noodles away, and stomps towards Korra's box.

The wall indents, and Bolin slips inside. Korra's stewing, hands alight with fire, eyes crazed. "Bolin, what—"

He shakes his head, "You're stupid." he tells her, crossing his arms over his chest, "_Both_ of you are." he says a little louder, just for Mako to hear. Then he lowers his voice, "What are you fighting about _this_ time, Korra?"

Just like that, the dark-skinned Avatar deflates. She sinks to the ground, and it's then that Bolin remembers she's just a teenage girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders. The fighting with Mako's probably not helping alleviate her stress levels at all. She wraps her arms around her knees, and Bolin sits beside her.

"I kissed him." Korra mumbles into her knees. "I didn't mean to. It just...it just happened. We were training and he just—he said that he would be there for me, for whatever I needed, even if we weren't getting along very well at the moment. I just..." Korra sucks in a breath, shaking her head, "I just like him. A lot." she looks at him then, eyes shining. She scoots closer to him, curling into his side. He's the only one she acts like this with, completely, blindly trusting. She's the best friend he's ever had, and he hopes he's the best friend she's ever had.

It pains him to know that Mako's constant denial of his feelings for her have done this to her.

Bolin takes this all in, nodding. "What happened after that?" he asks.

Angry tears slip down Korra's cheeks, "He told me we couldn't. That it was too risky. That one of us could get hurt, and I got mad. And I whipped him, and threw rocks at him, and—" she swipes a hand over her eyes, "He's just so _stupid._"

Bolin is inclined to agree, but he says, "He's emotionally handicapped, Korra. You can't just kiss him and expect everything to be turtle-ducks and rainbows." Korra snorts, sniffing. "He's lived his whole life believing that he wasn't meant to be happy. That nothing good could ever happen to him. And then you show up, and you confuse the hell out of him. You're loud and brash and brave and nothing like the city girls he knows. And he likes that." he puts an arm around her shoulder, "But he's afraid because he's never been in love before, and he doesn't know what to do. And to make matters worse, you're the Avatar, and he could lose you at any moment. So he falls in love with you, but he won't admit it because he's scared, and he doesn't get that you're scared, too."

"And when I kiss him and he pushes me away? What's he thinking then?" Korra sniffs, blinking repeatedly, pushing back tears. It's hard to see her like this when she's usually so strong. _These two,_ he thinks, shaking his head, _will be the death of each other._

"He's protecting you, in his own backwards way." Bolin says, scrubbing at the stubble on his jaw. "And he's protecting himself. He wants to be there for you, but he's convinced himself that every little thing that could go wrong if you were together _will_ go wrong, and he doesn't want that so he sticks a 'we're just friends' label on his forehead when he's around you. It sucks, but...that's how his mind works. And yeah, he _is_ pretty stupid."

Korra shakes her head, but her lips are twitching. And then, she's a scared little girl again, "Do you think he loves me?" she asks earnestly, voice quiet, because nobody but him can hear her talk like this. Talk like a silly teenaged girl who doesn't have a care in the world. Only worrying about boys and pro-bending and—

"I think he's crazy about you." Bolin answers honestly. _If the way he talks about you in his sleep is anything to go off of,_ he thinks to himself. Korra's cheeks dimple into a small smile.

Bolin brushes himself off as he stands, pushing the rock walls away. He helps Korra to her feet before he opens the wall to Mako's box and slips in, gripping his brother's shoulder, "Talk to her." he urges, "If you two keep this up, you'll hurt more people than just each other." he stomps once, and the rocks come crashing down around them.

Mako and Korra's eyes meet, and Mako's eyes widen at the sight of the tears in Korra's. Fight completely forgotten, he pushes past Bolin towards her, gloved hands coming to gingerly hold each side of her face.

It'll take some time, Bolin knows, but he's never seen two people more right for each other. Stubborn asses. He better be getting the first invite to their wedding and their first son better be named after him.

Bolin slips from the destroyed kitchen, Pabu climbing up his side, coming to a stop on his shoulder.

—

An hour later, Pema's startled scream coming from the ruined kitchen pulls Bolin away from his fresh bowl of noodles.

_fin._


End file.
